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Gettysburg women's golf team aims for fourth straight conference title

The Evening Sun

Posted:
04/23/2014 04:36:21 PM EDT

The Gettysburg College women's golf team will aim for its fourth consecutive Centennial Conference championship this weekend at the Clubs at Colonial Ridge in Harrisburg.

It almost seems like a formality for the Bullets to compete at the conference meet given its recent dominance over conference competition. After a pair of two-stroke wins at the league tournament in 2011 and 2012, Gettysburg won last year's event at the Hanover Country Club by 24 strokes. The team heads into this weekend's event averaging nearly 28 strokes lower per round than its next closest conference foe.

But in a sport like golf, anything can happen, particularly when weather is thrown into the mix. The spring season has been rife with cold, wet, and windy conditions, preventing teams from practicing and playing. As recently as 2011, a round in the conference championship has been wiped out because of playing conditions. Head coach Susan Konstalid knows her team needs to get on the course and get ahead early to maintain its champion status.

"The weather conditions this spring have been very challenging," said Konstalid, who has led the Bullets to four conference titles in six seasons. "The team has done a fantastic job handling this. They realize that we cannot control the weather or course conditions. We can only control our reaction to these conditions."

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The Bullets have racked up first-place finishes in four of five spring events, including a 50-stroke victory at the Stevenson University Invitational on April 12-13. Including the fall, Gettysburg has been the top Centennial Conference institution in every event it has played.

Gettysburg's lineup is as strong as ever with senior Kara McNulty (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central) leading the way. McNulty has turned in one of the most outstanding individual campaigns in the history of the conference, taking home a league record seven individual championships. Her current season scoring average of 80.27 is more than eight strokes better than the next lowest average in the league.

McNulty, who has won her last four events, is Gettysburg's all-time leader with 16 tournament wins. Two of those victories came at the CC Championship. In 2012, she led wire-to-wire en route to a two-stroke victory. Last season, McNulty erased a four-stroke deficit on the final day and captured her second consecutive conference title by winning the first playoff hole. She is a three-time All-CC performer overall, placing fourth as a freshman.

Gettysburg holds four of the top five individual scoring averages in the conference this season. Junior Lauren Sobotka (North Caldwell, N.J./Mt. St. Dominic) trails only McNulty with an average of 88.83. A two-time all-conference selection, Sobotka has finished in the top four in each of her last three outings. She tied for fifth at the conference championship as a freshman and tied for fourth overall last spring.

Freshman Nicole Petrocchi (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) and Sarah Hansen (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) have turned in strong debut seasons. Petrocchi is fourth in the conference in scoring at 90.67, while Hansen is right behind at 90.83. A former high school teammate of McNulty's, Petrocchi has finished in the top six in each of her last seven tournaments. Hansen has finished in the top eight in eight of the 10 events she has competed in.

Rounding out the lineup is sophomore Kate Schwartz (Laureldale, Pa./North Warren Regional (N.J.)). Schwartz narrowly missed all-conference accolades a year ago when she finished seventh at the league tournament. She has three top-10 finishes this season, including tying for third at the McDaniel College Fall Invitational.

Gettysburg is seeking to become the first team to win four straight conference titles since McDaniel won five in a row rom 2002-06. The pieces are in place for the Bullets to make another run and now all they have to do is get on the course and play.

"The team has worked hard this spring and I believe they are ready for the challenge they face this weekend," said Konstalid. "I would like to see them play their games and I hope they have fun."

The 2014 CC Women's Golf Championship will start at noon on both Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27.